


Purple Rain

by Quipxotic



Series: Mix Tapes: Prince [3]
Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Friends to Enemies, Gen, Inspired by Music, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, Spoilers, Talking, We Used To Be Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6698011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quipxotic/pseuds/Quipxotic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "No Such Data Exists," One confronts Six about his recent decisions. </p><p>This is the fourth of a series of stories inspired by Prince songs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Purple Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I'll admit it, the connection to the song in this one is pretty slim. But "Purple Rain" is all about the regrets that linger at the end of a relationship. In that sense it gave me an excuse to write something that I had wanted to include in "No Such Data Exists" but just couldn't make work logistically: these two former friends challenging each other to defend their choices.

“Why?” One asked as he approached the far end of _The Raza’s_ infirmary.

Within the isolation chamber, Six leaned up to look at him, shook his head, and then lay flat again. “That’s been asked before. I’m surprised Four hasn’t told you what I already told him.”

“Have you met Four?” One quipped. “Besides, I’d rather hear it straight from you.”

Six gave a mirthless laugh. “Does it matter? Is there anything that I could say that would make you agree with what I did?”

“No, but I still want to hear you say it. I think you owe me that much.”

“Owe you?” Six sat up at that. “Man, who are you kidding? Like Three said, we’re six strangers and a robot, we don’t owe each other anything.”

“Oh so now you’re quoting Three? That’s a sure sign that your judgement is impaired.” One shifted to sit on the bed closest to the isolation chamber. “Come on, what are you afraid of? You’ve already betrayed us to the Galactic Authority and we’ve escaped that. You’re trapped here with us for the foreseeable future. What harm is there in answering the question at this point?”

Six sighed and remained silent for a while. “We’re dangerous,” he said at last. “Everywhere we go, people die. When that planet blew up, that’s when I knew it had to stop.”

“We didn’t create the white hole.”

“No, but we delivered the device that did. Without us, fifteen thousand people would still be alive.”

“You don’t know that,” One interjected. “If we hadn’t taken that job, Truffault would have found some other group of mercenaries to partner with Wexler and his band of merry men. It might not have been a Mikkei facility that blew up, but something was destined to be destroyed from the minute Traugott created that device.” 

“No, we could have chosen not to deliver it, like I suggested at the time.” Six’s voice was beginning to rise in volume as he grew angry. “We had the chance to end the whole thing right there.”

“And then what?” One asked. “Leave it onboard? We didn’t know what it was, or what it could do. What if we’d kept it and it had gone off while we were docked with a space station? What if we’d jettisoned it into space and some ship, innocently minding its own business, had run into it? What if it had been drawn into the orbit of a planet or a sun and gone off there instead? How would those options have been any better than what actually happened?”

“Are you saying that you don’t think we had any culpability?” Six stood up to glare at One. “Because if you are, you’re sounding a whole lot like Three.”

“No, of course not.” One shifted restlessly and looked at the floor for a moment. “I regret our role in every one of those deaths.” He looked up at Six again. “But taking us out of the picture doesn’t save their lives, it just removes us from the series of events. It doesn’t stop anything. If that’s what you wanted to do you should have turned in Traugott, not us.”

“I would if I could,” Six said, more quietly. “But I had no proof, no way to convince anyone of their role in what happened.”

“And Traugott Corporation doesn’t have a price on its head.” There was a cynical tone in One’s voice now. “Or a laundry list of crimes it doesn’t remember committing. So you went for the quick fix rather than a meaningful one.”

Six shrugged and sat down silently, but One wasn’t prepared to leave it at that.

“So, how was it that you didn’t end up in a cell right beside the rest of us?” he asked, leaning forward.

Six considered telling him what he’d learned on the _Aegeus_ about being an undercover agent. Because he was right, Six was trapped here, at least for the moment. Given the attitudes of several of the other members of the crew, he could certainly use an ally. While telling One the whole story might not repair the damage that had already been done to their friendship, perhaps he could use it to remind him that they were alike in one aspect: neither of them were actually criminals. Nor was Five, for that matter. Unfortunately, Six wasn’t sure how much weight that carried with either of them any more. 

“Just lucky, I guess,” he said, opting for caution. He could always tell One more later if the situation changed.

One smiled slightly at that. “Or you cut a deal. What was it?” When Six didn’t answer, One continued. “Three thinks that the GA bought you, gave you the bounty on all of us.”

Six snorted a laugh. “He thinks that because that’s what he would do.”

“True,” One agreed. “But for once I don’t think he’s completely wrong. I think you cut a deal, just probably not for money. Your safety and Five’s maybe?” He looked at Six closely to see if he had any reaction to the accusation. 

Six returned his gaze without showing any emotion. “But not yours?”

One blinked, a bit surprised by the aptness of the reply. That was exactly what he had been wondering. “You tell me. I mean, I thought we were friends, but most people don’t have their friends gassed, shackled, shocked, and beaten up. Oh and tried for crimes they didn’t commit, don’t forget that bit.”

“As I said before, they would have figured out who you were eventually. You and Five would have been fine.”

“Are you sure about that?” One asked. “The GA didn’t seem overly concerned with the safe or humane handling of prisoners while we were in custody, never mind that none of us had been found guilty of anything yet.” One stood and walked closer to the force field that separated the two men. “But let’s assume that what you say is true. I still can’t believe you’d willingly send any of the others to prison knowing that they don’t even remember their crimes.” 

“Oh, come on.” Six laughed. “Are you telling me that you don’t think they belong there? What about Three? He’s tried to blackmail you, threatened both you and Five repeatedly, tried to hijack the ship, the list goes on and that’s just the stuff we remember him doing. Then there’s Four who executed someone right in front of you. And that guy was his friend! Four keeps saying that he has more people to kill, so how sure are you that you won’t end up on that list one day? And even if he doesn’t kill you, are you really going to stand by while he murders his way back to power?” 

“What about Two? You had to know what would happen if the GA found out what she is, so what horrible things has she done that warrant her being killed?” 

“I like Two and maybe it’s not her fault, but she’s dangerous. She was built for a purpose and, whatever it was, it wasn’t peaceful. Plus she’s had more than a few issues in the past with self-control, which could become a serious problem given what she can do. If things get out of hand, she could become an unstoppable threat, a walking, talking time bomb…” Six paused when he saw the look One was giving him. It was the same clenched-jaw expression Six had seen on his face when Alex Rook had told them about neutralizing Two. Six made an exasperated noise in the back of his throat and moved so that he was standing opposite One. “The last time I saw you, Three was threatening to kill you and Two had a gun to your head. In that moment of crisis, it wasn’t you she was backing up. So if you think you can trust them, ANY of them, then you haven’t been paying attention.” 

“Oh, but I can trust you?” One asked sarcastically. 

The two men glared at each other for a few seconds until they were interrupted by a voice from the hallway.

“Is this a private conversation or can anyone join in?” Two asked, eyes locked on Six. Then she turned to One. “I need you on the bridge. Now.” She took a few steps back into the hallway and waited for him to join her.

“Of course,” One answered, turning to walk out of the room. “I doubt there was anything left to say anyway.”

“Hey,” Six said quietly. One stopped and turned his head slightly in Six’s direction. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry if they hurt you - that was never part of the plan. I never meant to cause you or Five any pain and if there had been any other way, I would have taken it.”

“Sure,” One said flatly. He walked out without looking back.

——

One walked quietly beside Two on their way to the bridge. 

“You know you can’t trust him, right?” Two asked without looking at One.

“Obviously,” One replied.

“He’d probably say anything at this point. He knows he’s in a dangerous situation and he’s looking for people he can turn against the rest of us.” She glanced at him then. “Don’t let it be you.”

“Of everyone on this ship, I’m the one person who hasn’t betrayed anyone. So can we not have this conversation now?” 

Two started to answer but she was interrupted by the sound of music coming from the bridge. One and Two looked at each other in confusion and then sprinted the rest of the way.

The Android was waiting for them there. “I’m sorry if I startled you. I am attempting to unlock the ship’s systems and have inadvertently triggered a sound file stored in _The Raza’s_ computer.”

“We have music onboard?” Two smiled in spite of herself. “How have we not run across that before?”

“You never asked about it, so I never mentioned it,” the Android replied. “I can try to turn it off if it bothers you.”

“No, leave it,” One said sadly. “It fits with the general mood of the moment.”

 _I never meant to cause you any sorrow_  
_I never meant to cause you any pain_  
_I only wanted one time to see you laughing_  
_I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain_

 _Purple rain, Purple rain_  
_Purple rain, Purple rain_  
_Purple rain, Purple rain_

_I only want to see you underneath the purple rain…_


End file.
